Guild Wars 2

small being as often as an exotic drop? a rare drop? or as often as a precursor never drops.. ive been hunting for 4 hours… gotten many rares.. and an exotic still no key… yet ive seen someone with 3 keys… what? why? how in gods name how!…

Odds are that person didn’t get three keys.

I can’t wait till this beta event is over, and I get to read all the posts of people ranting about how they didn’t get a chance, or never were able to find a key.

This seems really ridiculous. I just went through an entire SW run (from 0% to Vinewrath). I asked as soon as Vinewrath was dead if anyone in map chat got it as a drop, and not one person said they had. So what sort of ludicrously low drop rate have they put on something that doesn’t even give us anything permanently? And more importantly, how much does ArenaNet want us to have to grind for it?

“We don’t want players to grind!

But oh, if you want to get access to beta, you better grind a lot!"

That’s ArenaNet these days, I guess. It really shows us what kind of players they’re making HoT for.

Test.8734:

That’s ArenaNet these days, I guess. It really shows us what kind of players they’re making HoT for.

I’ve actually been a bit worried about HoT because of this. Both DryTop and SilverWastes seem way more grind-focused than pretty much any other maps in the game, and most people I’ve heard talk to about them in the game have said they hate the grinding aspect that’s involved in them.
Now they’re throwing in beta key access to try to get people back into them to grind some more, rather than trying to make those maps more inherently fun instead.

It’s legendary rating, which does not bode well for it’s drop rate.

And it’s more so that i’ve had dry top maps so full that we easily reach tier 5 vendors every time, yet only saw 2 people showing they actually gotten one for roughly a 3 hour period.

Not to mention running silverwastes seems like a waste, it’s supposedly drops of mobs and event rewards alike.
But most mobs during silverwastes events don’t have any drops what so ever, and labyrinth/bandit chests don’t drop em either.

On the bright side, it’s a good time to farm geodes and get the items from drytop cheaply.

This whole thing is rather silly and mean-spirited at the same time.

ArenaNet should know fully well that players who didn’t get a key will whine and complain how many hours they’ve spent for nothing — IMO, that’s just mean.

Marth Reynolds.8257:

It’s legendary rating, which does not bode well for it’s drop rate..

Shards drop rather often from chests so this is untrue.

Supposedly someone got in Dry Top around 30 min ago. He even linked it in chat. He said it was from an event chest.

I just wish the item dropped all over tyria instead of DT and SW.

I don’t mind the RNG for the keys, but I’ve completed the event chain in SW 4 times. Not a single person claimed to get one, and yes people asked. Does that mean someone didn’t say it? Possibly. But it’s not very encouraging to spend 4-5 hours in full maps and not have a single person claim to get one. Oh well. I did score 3 exotics out of the ordeal though.

Do I get an achievement for this thing?

It’s a beta test, not the actual game. Most beta events for most games are also random; there are typically more people who want to try out the pre-game than there is room on the test servers.

Usually, the RNG is based on people who sign up for the beta. Sometimes, it’s people with a subscription to a newsletter. Often, fanzines give away ‘keys’ for the event.

I think it’s a cool idea that ANet incorporated the “sign up” and “RNG” into the game itself, increasing the likelihood that folks chosen are keen on the game and not just johnny/jills-come-lately.

If you don’t like playing in Dry Top or Silverwastes, skip this beta event and try for the next one. Despite the ‘reward’, I can only manage 1-2 breaches/day tops and then I’m ready for something else, so I’m sure I’ll be joining you on the sidelines.

I’m glad they’re rewarding beta keys to people who actually play the game— not just random people who want to beta. At the same time, limiting the reward to two L80-only, farm-happy maps, and making the drop rate incredibly rare isn’t making the ‘event’ fun.

It’s random people! Don’t let it get in the way of your fun. If you’re not enjoying it, the don’t play. Complaining about it is petty.

It’s not supposed to be an easy item to get. There wouldn’t be much point giving the closed beta ticket a higher drop rate just so everyone can get one. I know it’s not fun losing out on the opportunity to join, but don’t expect them to just hand them out left and right to avoid cries of “it’s not fair!” It’s easy to get spoiled with “special offers,” but keep in mind it’s a closed beta. Even though they would like “a strong player base for the test,” and therefore are extending the event by at least a week, it doesn’t mean it’s a free handout. Work for it all day long or all week long, but in the end, unfortunately, some people will get in, and a lot of people wont.

In the end, don’t let this keep you from having fun in the game If trying for these tickets is frustrating and upsetting…well then it’s probably really not all that worth it in the end. Have fun! Tickets aside.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-April-28-2015

i don’t think you get more then 1 of these. when you do you get an in game mail and email will be sent to you if you subscribed to their newsletter.

if ya wanted to know i got mine from dry top from champ kill.

So I did some rough (scrubby) math and determined that at the current drop rate:

1. Assuming roughly 55 of the players on a server at any given time would link it if they got it
2. Assuming on average you’d see 1 link per 5 SW completions

It would take an average of 275 SW completions to get a portal. Now let’s break that down:

1. You’re willing to grind through 5 SW completions per day
2. You manage to tag twice the events/mobs the average player does

1 week = 25% chance to get into the beta
2 weeks = 50% chance to get into the beta The update says “a week or longer”

Keep in mind that this does not mean 25-50% of the playerbase will get in. It’s just a number of hope/despair for the very very dedicated.

Also keep in mind that these numbers were all pulled from pure speculation and this post should not be taken seriously at all. I just start typing stuff in whenever I’m holding a calculator. It’s addicting, so sue me.

I’m still hoping that ArenaNet makes positive adjustments as the week goes on. Keep in mind 300 portal getters does not make 300 participants

One thing that might be useful to know is, how many people are usually invited to the first(?) closed beta of a mmorpg. I doubt anyone outside the game business has any idea, but if someone does work in that industry maybe they can give an estimate.

If we guess 3k, that’s about 200 a day for each of the two maps across all the shards. If its 1k that’s about 70 a day for each map with all its shards. I can’t see them inviting less than 1000 people so they have to be dropping at least that many.

welp I started at 5pm my time and its 1am now think im done for the night still no damb key… thanks anet… only 8 hrs of my time waisted in the worst zone ever… by the time this crap is done im gonna hate silverwastes with a passion more than I already did..

People already whining about the drop rates ??

It is in only 2 zones and the beta keys will drop from time to time so it is part of the issue ..

it is like the other game (that shall not be named) and the fact players whined about how difficult dungeons were to do at first after an xpac .. so they turned it down and NOW everyone was in to forums whining that they didn’t have anything to do since they breezed through the content ..

I want to know if the beta keys can be sold in the trading post for in game gold ..

after doing betas from ultima online to present ( last one i did was for ESO) and being ignored about the bugs that remained for upwards of 6 months after a lot of beta posts and well as forum posts after launch I have NO desire to do beta .. IT is too much like work (if done right) and you basically just end up destroying your new content since you already know most of it at launch

shaman.1938:

People already whining about the drop rates ??

It is in only 2 zones and the beta keys will drop from time to time so it is part of the issue ..

Not all of us are whining about drop rates. Some of us are unhappy that it’s relegated to only 2 zones, which makes it very boring and repetitive. It would’ve been nice if it was obtainable by other means.

I understand they wanted to make it relevant to the HoT/Modremoth story, but they could’ve expanded it to living story chapters, or even pvp.

Oh well, i won’t lose any sleep over it, but you shouldn’t dismiss other people’s concerns.

5017090

If we guess 3k, that’s about 200 a day for each of the two maps across all the shards. If its 1k that’s about 70 a day for each map with all its shards. I can’t see them inviting less than 1000 people so they have to be dropping at least that many.

This assumes that the population of the next beta event will only be players who picked up a key in the Silverwastes/Drytop. Inferring from the extremely low drop rate, an overwhelming majority of playtesters will be drawn from the HoT newsletter with sprinkling of players with magumma beta keys.

Iridisus.1289:

It’s not supposed to be an easy item to get.

But it actually is easy to get. Just not for everyone but only a few people. Because it is based on random and not your own efforts.

Well, since I know that as soon as something desireable becomes RNG in this game I will probably never get it, I don’t really care about the drop rates.
What really bugs me is that distributing the portals in SW/DT exclusivly leads to a rise of casual “phiw, never inform myself at all” players in those maps. Never had a fail SW map for weeks… until yesterday. Breach&VW both failed. Well played ANet, well played.
#losingeverylastbitoffaithingw2playerbase
#rngasaconceptstillsucks

Man, people don’t get in through email-lists, whinestorm. People don’t get in through in-game events, whinestorm. Stop being so entitled and just face the facts, not everyone will get in this time same as last. That’s how it works. If you don’t feel like working for it it’s simply not meant for you.

so… after 12 hours of SW almost perma farming EVERYTHING that can be killed, opened, done in this zone im tired and quite angry that i got nothing…cept 2 exotics that each are worth 1 gold… woo wee. I used 100% mf booster, food with 30% extra mf, the normal mf booster and halloween wetstones with another 30%(i think) mf ONTOP of the 300% i got by default… do with that what you want… im going to bed and cry myself to sleep

they should give beta access to people who have 2 year or 1 year birthdays with the game, to reward people who support this game for a long time. instead of kitten rng kitten

The positive side of this…never seen all events succeed so well hahaha

I think their low drop rate on this beta key might not be as much of a problem if it could be dropped from everywhere. But why limit it to DryTop and SilverWastes? If it dropped from all areas of the game, then it would still be rewarding active players, and you could have a chance at getting it by going about doing what you want to do… seems like a win-win to me.

Making you go to the two grindiest maps in the game and farm the same content over and over for hours, if not days, just seems like a really bad decision on ArenaNet’s part though.

Bitoku Kishi.8346:

I think their low drop rate on this beta key might not be as much of a problem if it could be dropped from everywhere. But why limit it to DryTop and SilverWastes? If it dropped from all areas of the game, then it would still be rewarding active players, and you could have a chance at getting it by going about doing what you want to do… seems like a win-win to me.

Making you go to the two grindiest maps in the game and farm the same content over and over for hours, if not days, just seems like a really bad decision on ArenaNet’s part though.

Agreed, but i think they wanted to tie it in with some lore behind it, since it’s a “portal” to the next zone. I can understand the reasoning, even if i don’t like it..

I won’t farm it ever again, and i only farmed it because i wanted to see what the drop rate would be like. It’s not worth my time though. I’d rather just do other things in real life.

Try to think for a second before you rant about low drop rate. We know some people are getting them, reports are coming in about that.

Imagine how many thousand players repeatedly farm SW/DT since yesterday, and then in the space of one week they’ll like fill that closed beta with players looting those beta portals. If the drop rate was higher, they’d have far too many gaining one.

I for one really welcome this, it finally brought a lot of people back to Dry Top and we churned out T5/T6 all evening which is good for completing some other goals.

You cannot farm them, it’s a lottery, if they have say 100 places for the closed-beta, 100 people will get such a portal. If there is a high drop rate, the 100 will be determined after a minute. If there is a low drop rate the event will take longer.

I knew this would happen. Because people are putting in effort to get the beta drop, they are getting annoyed when they don’t get it after several hours. Beta invite by email is different, because it is psychologically out of our control, but because players feel they can do something to increase their chances, it feels worse when they do not succeed. It also runs the risk of players getting even more annoyed with the game’s RNG system.

It is an interesting idea, and has some positives. But personally, I feel beta selection should be decided by Anet not GW2. If they wanted to chose active players who play in SW anyway, and at the times they need, I am sure they have the metrics to gather the appropriate participants, without causing frustration to players by making them jump through hoops for no reward.

For me, I am not bothered either way. I’m happy to wait for launch. I just feel that, as interesting as this idea is, it will not be met positively by many.

Yeah, I just spent 6 hours in SW after work, I am now going to bed with no Portal.

It feels worse than when I didn’t get in the first beta because I’m trying pretty hard to get that darn portal, but coming up empty handed

I’ll probably do one more night’s worth of farming and if I don’t get it, then screw it. I’m not gonna keep beating my head against this games RNG wall.

Rin.1046:

But personally, I feel beta selection should be decided by Anet not GW2.

Do you seriously believe RNG is actally RNG?
After 3 years of not getting any precursor from either the mystic toilet or as a random drop, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s something account based. You might say I’m just delusional, but after seeing some of my friends getting precursor after precursor it became clear. Coincidences happen a couple times, not a billion times.
FYI I have 6 legendaries and I had to farm all 6. Never got any help from the “RNG gods” (aka Anet).
I’m not even gonna try this key hunting bullkitten because I won’t drop it, that’s for sure, since my account can’t.

I don’t think many people can grasp the idea that Anet doesn’t want everyone to be able to get into the beta. If they wanted everyone to play it, they would have made it an Open Beta. Which they didn’t.

That means the drop rates of the portals are going to be extremely low by design. I’m not going to put myself through the grief of endlessly farming DT and SW on the extreme off chance of one dropping for me and giving me the ability to play the beta for a short while.

If it drops, it drops, but I’m not going to crying if it doesn’t.

Is it like forum specialists, where they have to be USA resident?

I’ve decided just to spend a few hours per day in silverwastes or dry top to finish off the achievements. If I get a beta key, I’ll consider it a bonus. I’m not a fan of farming those areas.

ANet will be complaining there are no people for the Beta test … LMFAO!!!

I went to DryTop & SilverWaste-of-Time once each when they went live. Can’t see myself going again.

Seems I need to be lvl 80. hahahaha

Fhaeris.9237:

Rin.1046:

But personally, I feel beta selection should be decided by Anet not GW2.

Do you seriously believe RNG is actally RNG?
After 3 years of not getting any precursor from either the mystic toilet or as a random drop, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s something account based. You might say I’m just delusional, but after seeing some of my friends getting precursor after precursor it became clear. Coincidences happen a couple times, not a billion times.
FYI I have 6 legendaries and I had to farm all 6. Never got any help from the “RNG gods” (aka Anet).
I’m not even gonna try this key hunting bullkitten because I won’t drop it, that’s for sure, since my account can’t.

I’m not sure you know what random means.

Arrk.4102:

Fhaeris.9237:

Rin.1046:

But personally, I feel beta selection should be decided by Anet not GW2.

Do you seriously believe RNG is actally RNG?
After 3 years of not getting any precursor from either the mystic toilet or as a random drop, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s something account based. You might say I’m just delusional, but after seeing some of my friends getting precursor after precursor it became clear. Coincidences happen a couple times, not a billion times.
FYI I have 6 legendaries and I had to farm all 6. Never got any help from the “RNG gods” (aka Anet).
I’m not even gonna try this key hunting bullkitten because I won’t drop it, that’s for sure, since my account can’t.

I’m not sure you know what random means.

I am sure he doesn’t.

The cries from the playerbase reminds me of the beta handout sheet from WoW beta MoP. Even when they still got in all they did were duels and talk trash. They didn’t contribute nothing, but filled up empty server slots. The same will be done here.

muckshifter.9731:

ANet will be complaining there are no people for the Beta test … LMFAO!!!

It would actually be pretty funny if, in a game-wide protest, nobody touched DT or SW for the next week. I know it won’t happen, but I still wonder what would happen, theoretically…

There is no rng! Four numbers at the end of your account decide your chance of getting good loot. Wake up fools!

Wife and I are personally not interested in the BETA (both want to experience everything as fresh as possible with a friends the first time), but man have enjoyed the increased population in Silverwastes doing the events! This has been great! Did VW like 3 times over the course of 2.5 hours! Keep up this silly grind for content in unused areas ANET! Cant say its th ebest idea, but I have enjoyed taking advantage!

gricks.1897:

Wife and I are personally not interested in the BETA (both want to experience everything as fresh as possible with a friends the first time), but man have enjoyed the increased population in Silverwastes doing the events! This has been great! Did VW like 3 times over the course of 2.5 hours! Keep up this silly grind for content in unused areas ANET! Cant say its th ebest idea, but I have enjoyed taking advantage!

Yea, they should add a 0.1% drop rate chance for BL tickets too and 0.5% chance for BL ticket scraps in these zones… watch the flood of activity

not everyone is happy about the population influx though… like the modrem…

The first thing you realize after a few hours, is that there is no spoon, it is only yourself that bends to the will of Anet’s mind bending manipulations. So in conclusion it makes you wonder if they really want us in the Beta.

Hybarf Tics.2048:

The first thing you realize after a few hours, is that there is no spoon, it is only yourself that bends to the will of Anet’s mind bending manipulations. So in conclusion it makes you wonder if they really want us in the Beta.

What is wrong with you guys in not understanding that distributing access to a test for a small part of the current game population by requiring those who want to be part of the drawing to actually participate in a part of the game rather than register somewhere on a mailing list is not much different from each other apart from being slighty fairer to those who actually play?

What approach would you have preferred if the conditions for this test are to limit the number of participants to, let’s say, no more than 5,000 players? How would you draw those 5,000 from 1 million of “but I want to be in, since I am important”-thinkers? How would you ensure that not 1-10% of those 995,000 who are not drawn will start complaining and feel that whoever did this draw is incompetent just because it wasn’t them who was lucky?